The TTA tour included project demonstrations from three of the
school’s top students. Nick Taylor showed the education and
labor secretaries a CAD design he made, which turned into a
metal prototype and later produced on a 3D printer. The senior
wants to be a mechanical engineer or tool-and-die maker,
commuting to the school an hour each way with his brother for
the hands-on educational opportunity.

“These are jobs that pay a real livable wage and have good
career ladders,” said Pérez. “I think you’re on the right
track.”

Joseph Neyhart,
who just graduated from TTA, demonstrated a robot made by a team
of students for a competition. He has been the team captain the
past two years. The remote control robot lurched forward,
causing Pérez and Duncan to jump back. But Neyhart made the
robot roll back a metal ‘foot’ and kick a large ball mounted on
its frame. Pérez chased down the ball and dribbled it like a
basketball, impressed by the display that became a finalist at a
statewide robotics competition. Local auto parts maker Dana
Corp. sponsors the robotics team and provides mentoring.

Neyhart did a high school internship at the GM Powertrain plant
on Alexis Rd., where he and other TTA students worked to help
reduce plant waste and introduce new technology on the shop
floor. He will attend Kettering University in Michigan and major
in mechanical engineering.

“I hope to find a co-op locally so I can continue to mentor the
robotics team,” he said.

Teacher Dale Price told the federal Cabinet officials
that robotics is an extracurricular activity at TTA—and students
can earn a varsity letter if they participate. The TTA model as
a magnet school has been so successful that TPS is adding
seventh and eighth grade classes this fall, hoping to increase
the number of students interested in STEM (science, technology,
engineering, and math) oriented careers.

TPS officials hope to create more such successful mentoring
partnerships with the
$3.8 million federal grant, which is part of a national program
that focuses on making students career-ready through a rigorous
academic and career-focused curriculum.

The grant will focus on
programming associated with energy, manufacturing and
electronics and will be available to students who attend TTA and
Bowsher, Start, Waite and Woodward high schools As part of the
grant, TPS has developed partnerships with local businesses and
colleges to provide support to the students enrolled in the
program.

Each student will be dual-enrolled in their home high school and
Owens Community College. Each student also will have a student
liaison working with them to support academic and career needs,
an intervention specialist to support academic needs of students
with disabilities, a career coach to work in partnership with
businesses to grow a relationship to support students, and a
college coach to be used to further their education if not
working immediately after high school.

“The money that this district has received is not a gift. It’s
an investment,” Duncan told TPS and local elected officials.
“Hearing the students talk is what learning should be all
about—how to be think critically, how to be a part of a team,
how to solve problems. It’s the opposite of the teacher standing
up and lecturing and saying ‘This is the gospel according to
me.’ Whatever they choose to do in life, they’re going to be
equipped to be successful, to be leaders, and make a
difference.”

“I think one of the keys to success is partnership. That’s the
secret sauce to success,” added Pérez. “These are skills that
are going to enable them to punch their ticket to the middle
class.”

Ray Wood, president of UAW
Local #14, and Tom Volk, the owner of a Toledo-based
electric business, told the federal officials about their
involvement on the governing board at TTA and how student
internships have led to hiring some of its graduates.

“When you walk through these doors, you can see these students
have the intelligence and integrity to succeed in life,” said
Wood.

“Every student here will look you in the eye, will say hello,
and know how to communicate with you,” echoed Volk. “That is
hard to find. It’s not a common thing.”

TPS Superintendent Dr. Romules Durant explained the
intent of TTA is to turn the 7-12 school into a seamless
transition to an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, with classes
held on site. He stated there are talks ongoing with a community
college and a four-year university.

“We’re hoping for a 7-14 or 7-16 school all on this campus, like
a p-tech you see in New York, where kids walk out of here with
certifications and degrees that make them really college and
career-ready,” said Dr. Durant. Many of the students are
graduating from TTA with a year of college credit already under
their belt.

Following the TTA tour, Pérez and Duncan participated in a
roundtable discussion about the future of education and what TPS
officials have planned for career-ready education.

Later in the day, the pair of Obama Cabinet officials also
toured the Toledo Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and
Training Committee
(JATC),
program, 803 Lime City Rd. in Rossford. That highly-competitive
program typically receives 500 to 800
applications during a selection period, but is dependent on
demand, so selection and placement of apprentices is limited to
between 20 and 50 people.

Apprentices at the state-of-the-art program are trained for
commercial and residential electrical careers as well as
telecommunications jobs. The program is affiliated with Owens
Community College, where apprenticeship graduates can apply
their training toward college credit at Owens or any other Ohio
community college.

Pérez ended up strapped
on a safety harness used by electrical workers to scale giant
wind turbines for a demonstration. He played a ‘victim’ to be
‘rescued’ about six feet in the air on a training grid at the
apprenticeship and training center. A safety instructor slowly
but surely lowered him to the ground.

The two secretaries also observed trainees splicing fiber-optic
cable attended a class of apprentices learning wind turbine
maintenance and repair. Labor Secretary Pérez then promoted the
new Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium, a means to
increase community college graduation rates by awarding college
credit for apprenticeships like the ones offered at Toledo
Electrical JATC.